Tag Archive

Hi All…following is a guest post from my childhood friend, Jenn White Doremus. We grew up together at the Jersey Shore – actually, Monmouth County, which is the northern part of the shore and very different from the southern part. Enjoy her rant about being from New Jersey.

Happy Fourth of July!

“Welcome to New Joisey” by Jenn White Doremus

I’m a huge Sopranos and Real Housewives of New Jersey fan. My mom, aunt, and uncle think those shows put New Jersey in a horrible light, and perpetuate the “Joisey” stereotype. Those of us who are native to NJ know these people are from NORTH Jersey, and most likely not originally from NJ at all. Look at the Housewives – they live in Franklin Lakes, and Jacqueline is from Vegas, Danielle is from Brooklyn, Caroline and Dina are from NY. Theresa is the only one originally from NJ – and she’s the one who tossed over the table in the finale. I can’t say I blame her – I probably would have also. But I digress …

When the Sopranos was at its height, I worked at Monmouth Park Racetrack. I was the Controller for the food-service department (Aramark was the company). Our workers were union, members of the local and international HERE. Being a union house, we would get audited by the unions yearly to make sure union payments were being deducted and paid properly. We would receive no notice, they would just show up. I remember one year when we were being audited I called our corporate office in Philly just to let them know. They became very concerned, asking me if I was safe and if they needed to call anyone to back me up. I laughed so hard, totally disbelieving that any time NJ and union were in the same sentence visions of the Sopranos came into people’s minds. Really, we’re not all mobbed up!

I’m from the Jersey Shore, and we are (sometimes) snobs who consider “The Shore” to be an entirely different entity from the rest of the state. But we are. We are neither North Jersey (Bennies!) nor South Jersey (Shoobies!). Did you know if NJ seceded from the union we would be the 2nd richest country in the world? So there. You’ve seen our beach, now go home.